The Students Representative Council at the University of Johannesburg has called on the institution to suspend academic activities until all students are registered. The UJ SRC has joined Wits University students in their protest against financial exclusion in the 2021 academic year.
UJ SRC President, Simphiwe Methula, outlines the demands they want addressed by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande who will meet with Top Six ANC Officials to discuss challenges facing students at institutions of higher learning.
“He must announce that all full-time courses that the university produces are funded – that is when we will be happy. For now, we are not happy because some students are suffering. There are some qualifications that are currently not funded at all. Our demand is that the university must stop or suspend all academic activities until everyone is registered.”
Meanwhile, protesting Wits students will on Friday launch an urgent court application to ensure that free, quality and decolonised education is realised this year.
On Thursday evening, students held a candlelight vigil at the spot where 35-year-old Mthokozisi Ntumba was fatally shot allegedly by police during the student protest in Braamfontein.
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The video below is on the night vigil held in Braamfontein for Mthokozisi Ntumba:
The students took their march to the doors of the Constitutional Court on Thursday. They handed over a memorandum calling on the court to start playing an active role in the affairs of the country including the students’ fight for a free and decolonised education.
Wits SRC president Mpendulo Mfeka says, “Free education is constitutionalised in our country, it is just not implemented. We always say its policy, its a policy, its policy…We need to start seeing active lawyers that will ensure this is put into implementation.”
The students have renamed De Beer street, Ntuma street, as a reminder of what happened to the 35-year-old bystander.
UJ, Wits students stand in solidarity:
